Last Night's Dinner: Pita Pizza

by Esther Sung

on 08/27/10 at 03:04 PM

Last night's dinner was pita pizza. It has been a dinner staple of mine for quite awhile but as with some dishes, it can take guilt over unused, lingering vegetablesand other perishable ingredientsto get me cooking something again. This time, the guilt was over zucchini, cherry tomatoes, and pita I didn't want to put in the fridge. I put the vegetables to use as the toppings: Minced garlic, julienned zucchini (thanks to a julienne peeler), and diced tomatoes, all sautéed. French feta (creamier and less salty than Greek feta) served as the cheese component. There was no sauce. A quick 10-12 minutes in the toaster oven at 350°F ensured a crispy, hot pita pizza with the cheese melted just so on the top. The pita pizza was delicious.

It reminded me that I shouldn't have to be moved by guilt to make something so delicious. Anyone else ever find themselves prompted to cook certain foods because of the same kind of guilt?

I wouldn't feel bad about making something so delicious. If I have food that needs rescuing, I head over to Trader Joe's for some pizza dough. It's a little bag of dough that doesn't taste as good as homemade pizza dough but it's easy peasy. Leftovers, veggies, pine nuts and cheese get loaded on. 20 minutes later I have dinner AND lunch for the next day. 2 birds , 1 stone, 2 pizzas.

CookingSchoolLady
10:11:02 AM on
08/31/10

We always have one one night of the week with a "clean out the fridge" meal. Typically a pizza, often topped with leftover homemade soup (butternut squash and ginger makes a delicious base)or chili. Or, a pasta using the same sauce and all the poor market veggies that didn't get used as well as any leftover meat bits. It often ends up being our favourite meal of the week.

trisch
05:16:10 PM on
08/30/10

I make random pestos out of the herbs perpetually wilting in my fridge and nuts leftover from other recipes. Then, I use the pesto and whatever odds and ends of cheese I happen to have in the dairy drawer to make flatbread pizzas just like yours. Some recent permutations include a naan pizza with cilantro pesto and rotisserie chicken and a green chile tortilla with spinach pesto and pepper jack cheese.

karollu
09:43:35 AM on
08/30/10

the best new quick dinner idea i forgot all about! thank you!

fuzzy918
07:07:27 PM on
08/29/10

I make pizzas out of flatbread all the time. I love using hummus or tapenade instead of sauce and muenster cheese. Some other great combos are fig jam, fococo, nutella, or marmalade, with goat cheese. When I have red sauce to use, I make a real mock pizza, but I mostly use other ingredients.

devora1
05:09:21 PM on
08/28/10

I'm guessing 1/3 of the meals I eat are rescue meals: I simply MUST rescue that food from the compost so compose a meal of what's around. All summer has been grilled pizza, phenomenal. Great way to rescue stuff.

janie16
05:08:25 PM on
08/28/10

pita pizza are a staple of my single life. they are the perfect size and are unlimited for what they can hold. I prefer a whole-wheat pita to get a bit more nutritional value but like everything from veggies on their last legs to leftover indian and thai curry!